


this ain't for everybody

by Faye_Reynolds



Series: tumblr au prompts [31]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: M/M, doctor!renee, doctor!roe, emt!babe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 14:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13389519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Reynolds/pseuds/Faye_Reynolds
Summary: frommy tumblr post





	this ain't for everybody

**Author's Note:**

> from [my tumblr post](http://thecompanyofheroes.co.vu/post/162622996368/baberoe-emtbabe-doctorroe-bonus)

renée had known eugene roe for all of twenty minutes and already she knew they were going to be great friends. he was smart, passionate, kind, and gentle. she respected him, not only due to his work at previous hospitals and doctors without borders, but because he wasn’t afraid of taking command, even towards his superiors. for gene, the patient always came first and foremost and for renée, that meant everything. unfortunately, that meant that everything else came second, including genes’ friendships, relationships, and himself. after six months of gene’s never-changing behavior, renée takes it upon herself to help gene if he won’t help himself. plus, she works nonstop, her fiancée is in france working on restructuring an entire hospital staff, and her only other friend is anna, an emt who she doesn’t see nearly as often as she’d like. sufficed to say, she could use a little shakeup and she’s never said no to helping a friend, even if they didn’t ask.

* * *

 

so she starts slow by randomly asking gene questions about his interests.

“do you like blondes or brunettes more?”

gene stops in the middle of a sip of his coffee.

“redheads, why?”

“quiz in last month’s cosmo.”

gene shrugs and walks away.

* * *

“what’s your idea of a perfect date?”

gene, exhausted from a double shift, rubs his eyes and levels a glare at renée who had just shown up for her shift.

“sleeping. for twenty-four hours.”

renée smiles, “so spending a lot of time in bed. i can work with that.”

she was about to ask gene another question, but he was fast asleep on the couch in the doctor’s lounge.

* * *

“would you ever go on a blind date?”

gene shrugs, they’re at their favorite seat in their favorite bar. one block from the hospital.

“i guess, ren. why have you been askin’ me all this stuff for weeks?”

renée downs another shot, a slightly less disgusted face than the last one falls from her face.

“i’m bored, gene. maurice won’t be back for another three weeks. you haven’t been with anyone in god knows how long. i want to set you up.”

gene laughs uncomfortably, “what makes ya think i ain’t been with anyone?” 

renée levels a firm glare at him.

gene sighs, “it isn’t that i don’t wanna, but with workin’ and movin’ i ain’t exactly had the time.”

“i think you’re preventing yourself from getting hurt again because of…you past, but gene you can’t let that fear stop you from being happy. i mean look at us. we’re as close as can be and you trust me, right?”

gene nodded, he really did. 

“well then if you can trust me with your friendship, you can trust someone with your heart. i know your ex tried to ruin that, but you can’t give that bastard the satisfaction of it being true.”

gene was quiet for a long time, thinking over why exactly he’s pushed away so many prospect since he’d moved here. renée was right, but it was easier said than done. he needed to warm up someone or even the idea of someone.

“soon, ren. just not tonight.” 

renée smiles softly before telling him she needs a refill.

he gets up to get them another round and as he walks back with two beers, a loud man - part of a loud group who’d been playing darts behind their table - slams into him and spills one beer down his favorite shirt. 

gene doesn’t look up, hand gripping the glass tightly in anger.

“ah shit. i’m so sorry man.” the man begins hastily attempting to clean beer off gene’s soaked shirt and is somehow still talking to both gene and his friend.

“shut up gonorrhea or i’m tellin’ your ma you didn’t go to church last sunday.”

the man’s friend stopped catcalling and the shaking hands were finally off his body.

gene looked up, calm exterior back in place.

he saw a shock of red hair and a warm, nervous smile.

he was staring, he knew he was, but he also couldn’t look away. 

“i, uhm, wow, i  _really_ am sorry. can i buy you another beer?” 

gene tried to place the strong accent as he willed his heart to stop beating so fast. 

he hadn’t felt like this in a long time. he didn’t even feel that way with his ex and gene didn’t want to think about him right now or ever again. he was the reason gene had to move as he’d tried to have gene’s license taken away because gene had wanted to end their relationship. 

gene had a difficult time trusting anyone since. not until renée had stood up for him in front of their chief when gene had made the right call for the patient against orders from the chief, had he felt like he could breathe again.

“i don’t know if you’re genuinely pissed and are about to hit me or if you’re playing the strong, silent type that looks intense all the time. either way, i’m into it.” the redhead ducked his head to hide his blush and still smiled at gene.

gene didn’t know how he knew, but he knew that the man in front of him could ruin him in the best way possible. he just couldn’t find the courage to follow through.

he says nothing and just rushes back to the table where renée was speaking in french, talking to maurice or family gene guessed.

he places her unspilled beer in front of her and gestures that he’s leaving.

he’s out the door, not looking back, couldn’t let himself for fear of what he’d let happen.

had he looked back, he would’ve notice the redhead approach their table and a mischievous smile spreading across renée’s lips as the man in front of her spoke.

* * *

they say that, as doctors, you’re expected to give up on more things in life than most people would. for some it’s as big as love, others it’s as important as family, for others it’s as minute as a regular sleep schedule. for gene, it was his trust in people he had to give up on. renée was the first person he’d met in a long time, that he trusted and felt like he could open up to. even still, it took her six months to break him down and really become his friend.

he promised himself that he’d never let himself be that vulnerable to someone again. but then again, gene was never very good at keeping promises to himself. renée had worked her way into his life and he kind of just wants someone to want to work for him. someone willing to put themselves on the line more than him, just for a little while. he needs to know that they’re willing to risk as much as he is.

and if he dreams of soft red hair, and warm smiles, and cold mornings spent in bed, then so be it. it’s not like his dreams are going to come true.

* * *

gene has to work the ER for a full day due to several unforeseen circumstances. though he wants to do nothing for than sleep, he’s grateful for the distraction and separation from renée. since the night at the bar, she’s been asking him more and more questions about his love life and it’s sad state.

he’s notified that a call came in; heartattack, emt coming in hot and performing cpr in the ambulance. 

gene braces himself for the adrenaline that only comes from racing against the clock to save another person’s life.

the automatic doors slide open and something about the emt makes gene stop before rushing into the room with the emts.

“BP 145 over 93.” the emt shouts and the voice gives gene pause again, but he quickly recovers.

gene takes over in a rush, pushing the emts out without even looking up.

he shouting orders to the staff around him until he manages to get the patient stable.

“get him admitted and tell lemaire to run a body ct as soon as she can. something’s off about him and i want to know what” gene orders as he snaps his gloves off and throws them into the bin.

“right away doctor roe.” the nurse responds and moves to page renée.

gene rubs his eyes, the night almost over and the exhaustion catching up with him slowly. something kept tugging at his brain about what just happened, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

“so is roe your, uh, first or last name?” a deep voice 

gene turned around and was met with the man from the bar a week ago. the man that’s haunted his dreams ever since.

“what’re doin’ here? stalkin’ me or somethin’?” 

gene fills out a chart and once again wills his heart to slow down. 

the man at least has the decency to look offended before he pulls the side of his jacket in front of gene’s eyes.

“i work here.” the man smiled wide and laughed slightly.

“sorry, i’m gene, doctor gene roe.” gene put his hand forward.

“babe.” the man shook his hand.

“what?”

“my name’s babe. well it’s actually edward heffron, but only the nuns call me edward.”

gene smiled, weird as it was, he could really see himself waking up to that smile and that hair and that voice every day. 

he tried out the name slowly, “ _babe_.” 

babe laughed, “i like the way you say my name, doc” he pursed his lips and in a mock-gene gravelly voice he said, “ _babe_.”

neither man realized that they’d stopped shaking hands and were simply hold the other’s gently.

babe stepped closer and gene’s breath caught at the proximity. he could feel something in his life shifting drastically into place. it felt like moments you only witness and read about, but never experience for yourself.

“i’d kinda like to hear you say it again, repeatedly, over the course of many days and weeks and months. maybe a little breathless or angry or when you’re laughing or in the morning or even at night. right now though, i’d kind of like to hear it followed by ‘i’d love to go to dinner with you.’“

gene stared, dumbfounded by the speech the man in front of him, quite literally the man of his dreams, has given. he continued to stare and went over his conversation with renée at the bar. it was just dinner, nothing more, but it was a start. he could get back on the horse and  _what_ a horse it was to get back on, so to speak.

gene flushed at the conversation in his head before biting his lip.

“c-can you kinda say something? anything? i’m kinda putting myself out there right now.”

gene, for the first time in his life, trusted someone he never thought he’d need to:  _himself._

he pulls babe in for a gentle kiss before speaking against his lips, “ _babe_ , i’d love to go to dinner with you.”

babe laughs and pulls gene in for another kiss.


End file.
